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Reality TV

Reality TV

Date: Sep 05 2003

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Reality TV is an amazing cultural phenomenon. Not only has it become the most popular thing on TV in the U.S., but it’s extremely popular all over the world. No matter where you go, there are TV shows that feature real people doing strange things in order to gain money and/or fame.
Read on to learn more about reality television!

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

The level of popularity of reality TV in the U.S. has grown quickly in the past 4 years. Ever since Survivor burst on the scene and offered $1 million to the winner of its game, people have been glued to their TVs to see who would win. Because of Survivor’s success, hundreds of other shows have appeared on TV. Some of them have been extremely popular, but many have been total failures.
While Survivor started the sudden explosion of reality TV shows in the U.S., it wasn’t the first reality show. In fact, there is a long history of popular reality shows. Candid Camera, which featured people doing foolish things while being filmed by a hidden camera first appeared in 1948. America’s Funniest Home Videos was hugely popular in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The Real World has been a huge success for MTV and is currently showing for the 13th year.
Many of the new reality TV shows focus on the search for love. The Bachelor is a good example. On the show, one man must choose a woman he wants to marry from 25 different contestants. The success of The Bachelor spawned many similar shows, including The Bachelorette, Joe Millionaire and For Love or Money.

 

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Discussion

I like reality TV, but I really can’t understand why so many people want to be on the shows. I mean, Survivor makes sense to me, because the winner gets a million bucks, but most of the other shows don’t offer any prizes. It seems like the only thing most of the people get is embarrassment.
Have a great week!
John

 

Comments

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amulyaa

Germany

I love reality tv shows and my favorite reality  shows are big brother, amirican idol. America’s got talent and so you think you can dance episodes.

10:08 AM Sep 12 2011 |

bleespoorpa

United States

I agree! If talkking about of just singing, dancing or some other talent shows then Reality tv shows are really a good paltform for the new contestants to perform well and show their talent..But ya there are some shows which are just for fun and they can just entertain rather than some other thing..So it depends upon the type of reality shows!




Damages Season 7 Episode 1

08:47 AM Jul 14 2011 |

edwardmartin

American Samoa

I'm also huge fan of reality shows.

09:04 AM May 04 2011 |

kavintenison

United Kingdom

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I'm also a huge fan of Reality shows and I love to watch it. Mine favorite reality show is Big Brother, Top gear and Dancing with the Stars. Right now, I'm watching Dancing With The Stars season 12. It's amazing show….

12:26 PM Apr 09 2011 |

leegrace

Germany

I like reality shows and my fave reality show is Top Gear Episodes, i used to watch all the episodes here.

12:35 PM Mar 08 2011 |

mosphiren

Germany

I do not like realty TV shows. I like only Drama series, where Drama is on the top. Just like the show Medium. I used to Watch Medium online, because of its better quality and the time ratio according to my adjustments.

11:13 AM Mar 03 2011 |

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